Omar says her State of the Union guest charged with unlawful conduct for standing up silently during speech
Democratic representative Ilhan Omar has said that her State of the Union guest was charged with unlawful conduct for standing up silently during Donald Trump’s speech last night.
Omar said that Aliya Rahman was “forcibly removed” because she stood up in the gallery for a “short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing”, during the president’s speech.
Reports indicate that Rahman was “aggressively handled” and was taken to George Washington University hospital for treatment, Omar said, and she was “later booked at the United States Capitol police headquarters”.
“The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred,” Omar said.
CNN has a statement from the Capitol police last night which said that Rahman was arrested after “demonstrating” during the speech. It said:
All State of the Union tickets clearly explain that demonstrating is prohibited. At approximately 10:07 p.m., a person in the House Gallery started demonstrating during tonight’s State of the Union Address. The guest was told to sit down, but refused to obey our lawful orders. It is illegal to disrupt the Congress and demonstrate in the Congressional Buildings, so 43-year-old Aliya M. Rahman of Minneapolis, MN, was arrested for D.C. Code §10-503.16 – Unlawful Conduct, Disruption of Congress.”
Key events
Texas Republican congressman says colleague accused of affair with staffer who killed herself should not resign
Troy Nehls, a Republican congressman from Texas, told reporters on Wednesday that the resignation of his embattled colleague, Tony Gonzales, “would be the stupidest thing he could ever do,” because it could imperil the Republican majority in the House.
Gonzales, a fellow Texas Republican, has rejected calls from other members of his party to step down over allegations that he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
“He’s not been indicted for anything,” Nehls said of Gonzales on the steps of the Capitol. “Does it look good? No. I don’t like the appearance of it. He’s got a problem here, don’t get me wrong. The optics are horrible.”
Gonzales has been accused of sending sexually explicit text messages in which he appeared to pressure the senior staffer to share images of herself and, eventually, coerced her into a sexual relationship.
Nehls, a former sheriff, seems unusually focused on optics. The congressman created a viral moment on Tuesday night, when he asked Donald Trump to sign his tie, which featured several images of the president, as he left the House chamber following his State of the Union address.
Nehls made that request just a few steps away from where he was pictured on January 6 2021, when he stood alongside Capitol police officers at the barricaded door of the House chamber and scolded Trump supporters who were trying to break in to stop the certification of Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The congressman was outspoken in his denunciation of the rioters that day, but more recently pivoted to blaming the Capitol police for the riot.
Nehls, who is not running for reelection in November, could be replaced next year by his identical twin brother Trever, who is a candidate in the upcoming Republican primary.
Cuba says border guards killed four gunmen on US-registered speedboat
Andrew Roth
The Cuban Interior Ministry has said that border guards killed four gunmen and wounded six more on a speedboat bearing a Florida registration off the coast of Cuba’s Villa Clara province.
The rare clash off Cuba’s coast, which took place today, comes at a moment of heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba during an oil embargo that has led to an energy and humanitarian crisis on the island.
One border guard was injured in an exchange of gunfire, according to the ministry.
The Cuban embassy in the US said in a post on social media: “In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region.”
More on this story here:
George Chidi
The California senator Alex Padilla is holding a forum with elected officials and voting rights activists to discuss the Trump administration’s apparent movement toward subverting local elections offices and interfering with voting.
Padilla, who delivered the Spanish-language response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last night, discussed the potential threats to free elections in light of Trump’s comments calling on Republicans to “take over the voting” in 15 places.
Questioned by the Georgia senator Raphael Warnock, Fulton county commissioner Mo Ivory said she personally saw Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, when FBI agents served a criminal warrant to take more than 600 boxes of documents from the 2020 election.
“I have demanded an explanation from Pam Bondi about this raid,” Warnock said. “So far, I have not heard back from her. She has not offered one, but we will keep demanding answers … They’re already trying to cast doubt on the 2026 elections.”
Catherine Cortez Masto, who once served as Nevada’s secretary of state, raised questions about the rhetoric suggesting that noncitizens are voting in meaningful numbers that require additional measures to prevent, describing the evidence of significant noncitizen voting as “nonexistent”.
“The incidences are so tiny that as a statistical matter, it should be considered zero,” said retired ambassador Norm Eisen, a voting rights activist.
The day so far
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JD Vance said that Donald Trump still prefers a diplomatic solution with Iran but still has “other tools at his disposal” that he is willing to use – and that he hoped the Iranians took that seriously in their negotiations tomorrow. It has been reported that Trump’s decision to order airstrikes against Iran will hinge in part on the judgment of his special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The envoys will attend a last-ditch round of negotiations to discuss a detailed proposal for a nuclear deal drafted by Iran is expected to take place in Geneva tomorrow.
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Meanwhile, the president was busy today weighing in on Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib yelling during his SOTU speech last night. Trump called the two Democratic representatives “Low IQ” and said the had the “bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized”.
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Trump also threatened to “send them back from where they came from – as fast as possible”. Both women are US citizens. Omar came to the US as a child refugee and has been a US citizen for more than two decades. Tlaib was born in the US.
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Omar, of Minnesota, told CNN that she didn’t regret her actions at the address, saying Trump posed the question of protecting Americans without acknowledging that “his administration was responsible for killing two American citizens” in her district. “It was really important to my constituents to hear that I was reminding the president that Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed under this administration,” she said.
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And Tlaib, of Michigan, responded to Trump’s post about her: “Can’t take two Muslimas talking back and correcting him so now he is crashing out. #PresidentMajnoon”.
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Omar also said today that her State of the Union guest, Aliya Rahman, was charged with unlawful conduct for standing up silently during Trump’s speech last night. “The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred,” Omar said.
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In an interview with Democracy Now, Rahman said she stood up because Trump was saying “racist things” and trashing Minnesota while glorifying federal agents, and she wanted to see if there were any “grownups” among the lawmakers below who were standing against his comments. Republicans around her were also standing up and applauding, though none of them were removed or arrested.
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The House speaker, Mike Johnson, called the allegations against Tony Gonzales “detestable” and said that he would meet with the Texas congressman “hopefully today”. Johnson added that he would let the “due process here to play out as always”. The speaker has resisted growing calls from within the GOP to pressure Gonzales to resign over allegations that he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
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Casey Means, the wellness influencer who is Trump’s controversial nominee for US surgeon general, appeared before lawmakers on the Senate committee for health, labor and pensions. She was grilled on everything from her stances on vaccines and autism to her inactive medical license.
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House Democrats have demanded a briefing from the justice department on the removal of Gail Slater, who was forced to resign as head of the antitrust division this month under a cloud of controversy and fraught tensions with her bosses inside the Trump administration.
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The US will provide on-site consular services in two Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for the first time, breaking with previous policy in a move that has been criticised by Palestinian officials as “a clear violation of international law”.
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Marco Rubio held talks in the Caribbean today with regional leaders calling for “de-escalation and dialogue” to deal with the impact of recent US policies and a growing humanitarian crisis in Cuba that could destabilize their region.
Aliya Rahman, Ilhan Omar’s guest who was removed from Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, also spoke about the incident with Democracy Now.
She attended the interview in the same clothes as the prior day, saying she only got out of a hospital visit and then custody of Capitol police just before 4am. She said she was “arrested so physically that two other attendees upstairs attempted to intervene in officers pulling on my shoulders after I told them I have a torn rotator cuff tendon and multiple cartilage tears in both of my shoulders”, injuries she sustained after her violent arrest by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.
“The only reason I can think that they thought me standing silently there was a protest is because by this point my body, unafraid, even if broken, standing and looking at these people in their face, well, that must be a protest to you,” she said.
She said the sergeant at arms told her she was removed and arrested because she was standing up.
“No buttons, no facial expressions, no gestures, no signs. Not one sound. Standing up,” she said. “There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up. All kinds of people were standing up all night.”
She said she stood up because Trump was saying “racist things” and trashing Minnesota while glorifying federal agents, and she wanted to see if there were any “grownups” among the lawmakers below who were standing against his comments. Republicans around her were also standing up and applauding, though none of them were removed or arrested.
“I really wonder if these folks have noticed yet that every time you try to break my body, you fuel my spirit,” she said. “I was arrested for standing up. This administration wins zero prizes for their command of metaphors.”
Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative from Minnesota, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that she didn’t regret her actions at the State of the Union address, saying Trump posed the question of protecting Americans without acknowledging that “his administration was responsible for killing two American citizens” in her district.
When Blitzer asked if she should have instead not attended the speech, as many Democrats chose to do, she said it was important for her to bring four Minnesotans as guests and for her constituents to see her representing the state there after the killings during the ICE surge.
“It was important for us to be there to bear witness, to hold the space for our constituents that have lived through an occupation from federal law enforcement, that have been terrorized, that have seen our neighbors been killed and traumatized in so many ways and so no, I think it was really important for my constituents to see me there,” she said. “It was really important to my constituents to hear that I was reminding the president that Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed under this administration.”
Rashida Tlaib, the Democratic representative from Michigan, responded on social media to Trump’s post about her: “Can’t take two Muslimas talking back and correcting him so now he is crashing out. #PresidentMajnoon”
Trump lays into Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib after State of the Union protests
Donald Trump has weighed in on Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib yelling during his speech last night.
In a post on Truth Social, he called the two Democratic representatives “Low IQ” and said the had the “bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized”.
He also threatened to “send them back from where they came from – as fast as possible”. Both women are US citizens. Omar came to the US as a child refugee and has been a US citizen for more than two decades. Tlaib was born in the US.
“They can only damage the United States of America, they can do nothing to help it. They should actually get on a boat with Trump Deranged Robert De Niro, another sick and demented person with, I believe, an extremely Low IQ, who has absolutely no idea what he is doing or saying – some of which is seriously CRIMINAL!”
He called the actor “Trump Deranged” and said he “may be even sicker than Crazy Rosie O’Donnell”, another frequent target of Trump’s attacks, saying that O’Donnell “is probably somewhat smarter than [De Niro], which isn’t saying much”.
“The good news is that America is now Bigger, Better, Richer, and Stronger than ever before, and it’s driving them absolutely crazy!” he concluded before signing his name in capital letters.
Omar says her State of the Union guest charged with unlawful conduct for standing up silently during speech
Democratic representative Ilhan Omar has said that her State of the Union guest was charged with unlawful conduct for standing up silently during Donald Trump’s speech last night.
Omar said that Aliya Rahman was “forcibly removed” because she stood up in the gallery for a “short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing”, during the president’s speech.
Reports indicate that Rahman was “aggressively handled” and was taken to George Washington University hospital for treatment, Omar said, and she was “later booked at the United States Capitol police headquarters”.
“The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred,” Omar said.
CNN has a statement from the Capitol police last night which said that Rahman was arrested after “demonstrating” during the speech. It said:
All State of the Union tickets clearly explain that demonstrating is prohibited. At approximately 10:07 p.m., a person in the House Gallery started demonstrating during tonight’s State of the Union Address. The guest was told to sit down, but refused to obey our lawful orders. It is illegal to disrupt the Congress and demonstrate in the Congressional Buildings, so 43-year-old Aliya M. Rahman of Minneapolis, MN, was arrested for D.C. Code §10-503.16 – Unlawful Conduct, Disruption of Congress.”
US to offer passport services to citizens in illegal West Bank settlements
Jason Burke
International security correspondent
The US will provide on-site consular services in two Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for the first time, breaking with previous policy in a move that has been criticised by Palestinian officials as “a clear violation of international law”.
In a post on X, the US embassy in Jerusalem said that as part of an initiative to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, it would provide Americans with routine passport services in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on Friday, “for one day only”.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, are illegal under international law. Efrat is home to about 12,000 Israelis and is located 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) south of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said in a statement that the initiative “constitutes a clear violation of international law and a blatant favouring of the occupation authorities”, referring to Israel.
Mu’ayyad Shaa’ban, the head of the commission, said the step “entrenches a settlement reality that undermines the possibility of establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state”.
Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the intent and context of the new policy were important.
The background is very clear. Mike Huckabee [the US ambassador to Israel] is an avowed proponent of the Greater Israel vision and supports the realisation of that vision between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
This is a signal that the US will not treat the Israeli settlements [in the West Bank] in any different way from towns within Israel.
Last week, Israel’s cabinet approved measures to tighten the country’s control over the West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a “de facto annexation”.
Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has said he opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank in line with longstanding US policy but his administration has not taken any measures to halt settlement activity, which has risen since he took office last year.
House Democrats open inquiry into ouster of US antitrust chief Gail Slater
Hugo Lowell
House Democrats have demanded a briefing from the justice department on the removal of Gail Slater, who was forced to resign as head of the antitrust division this month under a cloud of controversy and fraught tensions with her bosses inside the Trump administration.
The request from Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, and Jerry Nadler, a Democratic New York congressman, marked the first step in what is almost certain to become a much larger investigation should Democrats reclaim the House majority in the midterm elections and gain subpoena power.
In a letter to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, Raskin sought a briefing on the role of Trump-connected lobbyists in Slater’s removal, after she tried to block a $14bn merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, a cloud-computing and software company.
“With the departure of AAG Slater, it appears there are no longer any principled antitrust experts left to guard the antitrust division from this cascade of corruption,” the letter said. “The leadership vacuum is occurring just as the antitrust division is handling historic cases.”
Slater was pushed out after her relationship with Bondi and JD Vance – once her most powerful ally until he grew weary of her invoking his name at the justice department – steadily deteriorated off the back of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise case, the Guardian has previously reported.
Among other things, Slater had told Bondi that the US intelligence community never raised national security concerns about stopping the deal. But her claim was contradicted by John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, who questioned why he had not been consulted.
An exasperated Bondi later told associates she felt Slater had lied to her to continue with the suit, which the justice department dropped in June 2025 in favor of negotiating a settlement. Slater in turn complained the department had been captured by lobbyists for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
A spokesperson for the justice department referred queries about its response to the letter to Bondi’s previous statement thanking Slater for her service.
More on this story here:
Rubio begins talks with Caribbean leaders calling for ‘de-escalation and dialogue’ amid US oil embargo on Cuba
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, arrived in the Caribbean today to begin talks with regional leaders who are calling for “de-escalation and dialogue” to deal with the impact of recent US policies and a growing humanitarian crisis in Cuba that could destabilize their region.
It comes amid continued deadly US military strikes against alleged drug boats and the Trump administration’s oil blockade on Cuba. Trump is ratcheting up the pressure on Cuba in the wake of his dramatic ousting of Venezuelan president and key Cuban ally Nicolás Maduro last month.
Rubio addressed a closed-door meeting of Caricom, the Caribbean group that comprises 15 member states and five associated members, in Saint Kitts and Nevis, and would hold bilateral meetings with some regional leaders, Reuters reports.
The meeting’s host, Saint Kitts and Nevis PM Terrance Drew, said that Caricom should be a conduit for dialogue over Cuba’s future. “A destabilized Cuba will destabilize all of us,” he said.
Yesterday, ahead of Rubio’s arrival, my colleague Natricia Duncan reported that the Jamaican prime minister and the outgoing Caricom chair, Andrew Holness, appealed for a collective response to the crisis in Cuba, saying that he supports “constructive dialogue between Cuba and the US aimed at de-escalation, reform and stability”.
“We must address the situation in Cuba with clarity and courage,” Holness said. “Cuba is our Caribbean neighbour. Its doctors and teachers have served across our region,” he said.
Cubans are facing “severe economic hardship, energy shortages and growing humanitarian strain”, which could have consequences across the wider region, he said.
Humanitarian suffering serves no one. Apart from our fraternal care and solidarity with the Cuban people, it must be clear that a prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba. It will affect migration, security and economic stability across the Caribbean basin.
The Trump administration has been pressuring countries to stop participating in the Cuban medics program – which is a source of foreign currency for the Cuban government – chill relations with China and consider allowing US military hardware in their countries. Trump has also threatened tariff hikes against any nation sending energy supplies to Cuba and has urged the country’s leaders to reach a deal to avert a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Shrai Popat
Back at the Senate committee for health, labor and pensions’ grilling of Casey Means, Trump’s controversial nominee for US surgeon general …
In an exchange with the Democratic senator Andy Kim, Means pushed back on questions about her inactive medical license, stressing that it was “voluntarily placed on inactive status” because she is not currently seeing patients. She added that she has no plans to reactivate it, noting that the surgeon general does not provide individual clinical care.
Means then pivoted to her credentials, citing her medical degree from Stanford and her years of clinical and surgical training. “I owned my own medical practice, and I’ve seen thousands of patients, and I did over four years of surgical training – which is more than many of our past surgeon generals completed, who did medical specialities,” she said. “I have completed extremely thorough medical training, and I have the ability, through these experiences, to communicate excellent public health information.”
One complication: the surgeon general also oversees the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a uniformed service of more than 6,000 public‑health officers. That role requires “maintaining active and unrestricted licenses and certification”.
